The present invention relates to a wearable protective body appliance for by reducing the likelihood of injury to a wearer's body from external forces.
A wide range of activities can pose a risk of bodily harm. Some of these activities are recreational, such as games or sports, while other activities are occupational, such as law enforcement. It can be desirable for a participant of such activities to wear one or more protective body appliances to reduce the likelihood of injury from forces acting on the participant.
Two examples of activities, where wearers are subject to external forces from impact, are the games of lacrosse and hockey. In such games, participants wear various types of protective body appliances, such as shoulder pads, chest and back protectors, elbow and arm pads, gloves, knee pads, shin guards, hip pads and helmets, to protect their bodies and appendages by cushioning blows imparted to the wearer during play. Usually, these types of protective body appliances are designed to fit snugly, yet flexibly, on the wearer. Many times, such protected body appliances include straps that hold the body appliances in a particular location with regard to an appendage of a wearer. While these straps work relatively well, with many body appliances, there is a tendency for the appliance to move out of a desired position. For example, when a wearer begins to perspire, an elbow/arm pad has a tendency to slide up or down along a wearer's arm, which can result in discomfort or impaired mobility.
One solution to the issue of a body appliance sliding relative to a body part uses a neoprene portion that contacts the wearer's skin in use. An example of an exceptional neoprene-backed body appliance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,356,849 to Morrow. While the neoprene of Morrow grips the wearer's skin and limits movement of the appliance relative to the appendage, it sometimes can form an impermeable, unbreatheable barrier, which can lead to excess perspiration where the neoprene contacts the wearer's skin. This can lead to slight discomfort, particularly in hot or humid conditions.
Another issue with the design of conventional body appliances is that there is a trade-off between a body appliance fitting snugly on a wearer yet providing the wearer with flexibility and a free range of movement. Many body appliances include rigid plastic covers that strategically cover a portion of the body. For example, arm pads typically include a single rigid cover constructed of a single plastic material that extends along a portion of the humerus to protect that bone from blows. The elbow is covered by a separate rigid cover constructed of the same plastic material, while the radius and ulna are protected by yet another separate rigid cover also, constructed of the same plastic material. All of these covers are substantially rigid so that they can shield the wearer's arm, particularly, the musculature and bones, from direct impacts. The rigid covers are typically secured directly to a foam pad so that all the rigid covers can be donned at one time.
The above conventional construction suffers several shortcomings. First, because each of the rigid covers are constructed from a single piece of inflexible rigid plastic, those covers can substantially impair movement. Second, the rigid covers usually are separated from one another, which can create gaps between covers, leaving portions of the body unprotected.
As a solution to the issue of impaired mobility, the size of the rigid covers can be substantially reduced. The tradeoff is that the protection provided to the wearer is likewise reduced, in many cases, creating more unprotected gaps. Another, a common issue with the rigid plastic cover constructions is that even though they are contoured to follow body appendages, the covers can protrude excessively from the wearer's appendage, which increases the likelihood that the covers will become snagged on other players or objects. Yet another issue with conventional rigid cover constructions is that they frequently fit wearers of different body types differently, and thus can cause discomfort if not appropriately fitted to a particular wearer.